


A Lesson in Lethality

by shxme



Series: hit the books (a high school au) [2]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: High School AU, High School Drama, Light Angst, M/M, Relationship Problems, Rhaast is so done, liberal splashes of humor, people being idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-09-05 19:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20278414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shxme/pseuds/shxme
Summary: Summer's almost over. Rhaast wants to spend the remains of his free time hanging out with Kayn and not getting baited into fights.In true family fashion, Aatrox messes everything up.It's not Rhaast's job to fix it but he'll try anyways.('Hit the Books' is required reading before you can start this. gonna be confusing without it. read that first!)updates currently shelved sorry!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hullo everyone, im plotting out a few more high drama fics but wanted to throw in a splash of something lighter before I reveal those. the designs in this au are once again based off of @phsfg's high school au. (that's their tumblr) if you're familiar with how people look in that then that's a plus. this fic is set after the events of Hit the Books, so reading that is heavily advised as there are references and whatnot.
> 
> lol stands for Lots of Language! this has been your warning.
> 
> anyway hope u like!

It is near the end of summer, in the sweltering heat of August, when Aatrox and Draven break up. Rhaast hadn’t been there in person—he’d been with Kayn the whole day—but he _ did _ witness his brother stomping into the house late that night, broodier than ever before. Aatrox is scary when he’s upset. That night he’d been especially so. Rhaast hadn’t gone near him—too much rage even for him—but he’d knew something big had happened. His stomach had twisted into harsh knots. 

As soon as Aatrox’s door had whipped shut with a deafening slam Rhaast checks his phone and sees the news, spelled out in snapchats and text messages.

** **

_ “Aatrox and Draven broke up with each other.” _

** **

_ “is it true????” _A rapidfire text from Evelynn, even at dance camp she somehow hears the news.

** **

Rhaast has never seen Aatrox this upset. He hears his dad tiptoe out of his room on feather-light feet and knock twice on Aatrox’s door.

“Everything okay?” He asks timidly. A dumb, dad question. Clearly everything is not okay.

** **

_ Apparently, _ Rhaast thinks. He leaves Eve on read. 

** **

***

** **

Over a series of convoluted text messages the next morning, Rhaast discovers what went down. 

“They broke up last night at Kat’s party.”

“Why?” Kayn fans himself with one hand. It’s a blisteringly hot day. The bench they are sitting on practically burns at the touch, even in the shade of a wide oak.

“I don’t fucking know,” Rhaast leans his head over the edge of the bench and hisses as the back of his neck starts to sear. He reaches for his iced tea but Kayn has already stolen it. “Give it.”

Kayn uncaps the cup and fishes out a piece of ice. He flicks it at Rhaast and it lands on the front of his shirt. “That’s really all you have?”

“Yeah—Shie _ give _ it.” 

Another piece of ice lands on his shoulder. He welcomes the brief instant of cold that it offers. “Can’t you ask someone about it? Aatrox?”

“He hasn’t come out of his room. I caught dad trying to slide pancakes under the door this morning.”

Kayn snorts. “Your dad’s weird. What about Draven?”

Rhaast shrugs. “He hasn’t answered my texts.”

“Come _ on. _ Useless, _ ” _Kayn sighs, disappointed. “I want to know what went down. Who saw it at the party? Was there a fight?” 

Rhaast feels as if he’s melting. He leans over and wrestles his iced tea away from his boyfriend’s grip. 

“Asshole,” Kayn snipes.

“Bitch,” he fires right back. 

Kayn grins. He almost looks feral. Rhaast loves it. 

“I don’t know who saw it go down at the party.” He takes a long drink, blessedly cool. From the bench they are sitting at he watches people peruse the small stores on the other side of the street.

“So you called me to meet up and talk about the drama.” Shieda crosses his arms. “Except the only piece of _ ‘drama’ _ you have is that they broke up in the first place and you can’t tell me _ why _ it went down, or _ how _ it went down, or even _ who _ was there to _ see _ it go down.”

Rhaast’s eyebrow twitches once. “Look—it’s fucking—_ hot.” _He shouts the last word at the sky. A couple passerby look at the two of them, startled.

“Yeah I know that babe.” Kayn stands up. The back of his shirt peels away from the bench. He grabs Rhaast’s hand and pulls him up. “Let’s go find Draven.”

** **

***

** **

The local pool is always a popular place during the summer. Today it’s obnoxiously packed as the afternoon heat hits record temperatures. They weave between the scrappy pool chairs and umbrellas to line up at the cramped snack bar. Draven’s had this summer job for the past two years but today there’s a short girl at the window that Rhaast doesn’t recognize. Kayn knots his hair into a tight bun and attempts to tame some flyaways while they wait.

“Two waters,” Rhaast says at the tiny window when it’s finally their turn. “Is Draven working today?”

The kid blows an airy pink bubble. It pops loudly. Gets on Rhaast’s already torched nerves. He doesn’t like kids. She reaches through the disorganized shelves of candy and chips to retrieve two bottles of water.

“He went to get more ice.”

Kayn shares a look with Rhaast as he forks over a few bills. “We’ll wait.” A fan buzzes noisily from the inside of the small stall. Rhaast looks at his phone and rereads his text messages. Should probably reply to Eve at this point. 

** **

About a minute later the back door of the snack bar slams against the wall. 

“Yo Drave!” The kid snaps her gum. _ Annoying. _“You’ve got friends.” 

“What?”

Rhaast leans his head through the small window. Draven is there, dumping a bag of fresh ice into the snowcone machine. He’s clearly not in the best shape. Shoulders slumped, scrappy mustache looking especially awful, and a pair of dark sunglasses on his face. 

“Hey man.” Rhaast nods at him awkwardly. Draven is one of his best friends but he’s confused on how to feel about this whole situation. What if it had been his fault? What if he’d done something unforgivable to Aatrox? Rhaast doesn’t know what he’d do. 

Draven flinches and a disorganized rack of chips spills onto the floor. A watery smile cracks across his face. He squares his shoulders and moves to the window. Might as well be a zombie with the way he’s moving.

“Hi,” he croaks.

Kayn throws a quick two fingered wave. “Hey _ Drave.” _

The kid’s blows another bubble in the resulting silence.

“You look like a mess.” Kayn breaks the uncomfortable quiet.

“I—what_ happened?” _ Rhaast is so bad at this. Dealing with shit like this.

Draven doesn’t speak. He rubs the back of his neck.

“Just ask Aatrox,” he finally mutters sullenly. So unlike him. Where’s the confidence? The self assured ego that causes people to gravitate towards him? Gone.

“No—come on, you _ know _Aatrox.” 

Someone behind him in line taps Rhaast’s shoulder. He doesn’t turn around. Let them wait.

Draven sighs. He removes his shades to rub his eyes and Rhaast spies the dark circles on his face before he puts them back on. 

“It just—” He pauses. “I didn’t know him well enough I guess.” He sighs again, far longer this time. “I’m going to go get more ice.”

“You just did that.”

Draven is already gone.

Rhaast hovers at the window for a second longer until Shieda pulls him out of line and away from the snack bar. That look in Draven’s eyes. It has to be really hard on him. What a mess.

“God, he’s pathetic looking,” Kayn crumples up his now empty bottle and tosses it into garbage. It bounces off the lid of the garbage and lands on the ground. Neither of them make a move to pick it up. “Maybe you should just ask Aatrox.”

Rhaast doesn’t really want to. “Maybe I won’t.”

Shieda rolls his eyes. He tugs Rhaast towards the exit. “Why _ not? _You that scared of him?”

_"No,” _Rhaast huffs. Not scared. He’s not a coward. Especially not in front of Kayn. “It’s just—maybe they broke up for a good reason.”

His boyfriend laughs, looks up at the sky. “I don’t_ care _ if they get back together or not. I just want to know why.” It sounds so ruthless when he says it like that. Rhaast wishes he could feel that dispassionate about it. Unfortunately this now dead relationship involved his brother and his best friend and it’s too much of a mess in his head for him to think clearly about it. He hates this confusing shit. Rhaast likes to think straight and narrow. He hates children, he likes Shieda. Black and white, yes or no. But when it comes to the breakup there’s still so much gray that hasn’t been tinted one way or the other. 

_ Frustrating. _He kicks a stone across the parking lot and watches it skitter on the blacktop. 

“Come on.” Kayn flashes him a winning smile. “Just try? For me?”

Unfortunate perhaps, that Rhaast will do anything for Kayn.

** **

***

** **

An unbearable mood has set over Rhaast’s house. A black storm that weighs down the already too-warm house. It’s _ miserable _ , probably why no one else seems to be here. He wonders where Varus has gone. Escaped—more like, because this is _ terrible. _

And he _ really _doesn’t want to knock on Aatrox’s door. Still shut. Is he even home? Rhaast shifts from one foot to another, takes a couple deep breathes. He is not a coward.

He raps his knuckles against the door. Any other time if the door was unlocked he would barge right in. Now is not the case,

Silence.

Rhaast tries again, less hesitantly.

“Dad _ go away!” _ He takes a step back, mouth dry.

“It—it’s me.” He calls out weakly.

Something hard thumps against the door loudly. “Get the _ fuck out!” _Aatrox howls.

Rhaast immediately backpedals to his room. He is _ not _ a coward but his brother is also _ not _someone he will mess around with. He collapses onto his bed and turns on his fan. Screw that. He tried.

** **

The late afternoon light filters through his bedroom window and casts yellow across his walls. For a few minutes Rhaast closes his eyes, tired from the hot day. It feels nice to just lie there. Feels like summer.

With a sigh he grabs his phone off his nightstand and finds Evelynn on his contact list.

_ "Yeah it’s true,” _he finally responds to her text.

Eve is already typing to him a moment later. _ “so i heard. how r they doing?” _

Rhaast stares at the ceiling. He thinks of Draven’s dark ringed eyes. Can only imagine how his brother looks. _ “Bad.” _

_ “aw poor things. love is such a trap lol.” _

Rhaast is once again reminded that he’s surrounded himself with people that are ruthless. Eve comes off as alluring and warm but both her and Shieda share the same venom.

_ “Hey do you know why they broke up?” _He asks reluctantly.

_ “u dont know? Lol” _

He switches his fan to a higher speed. _ “It’s aatrox. Not telling me shit.” _

Her reply arrives slower than normal. _ “idk actually. my friend is supposed to give me all the info but hes left me hanging. :( i get back from dance camp on sunday.” _

Six days away. That’s a long time to wait. Rhaast frowns. _ “Your friend?” _

_ “u know pyke?” _

_ Pyke. _ Is that where Eve gets all her drama info? Rhaast can’t really say he knows him. Can’t even remember if he’s had a single conversation with him. Pyke is always the quiet kid that fades into the background like a ghost in the mist. Nobody really pays any attention to him. Now that he’s thinking about it he _ does _remember a few times where he’d talked to Eve and Pyke had been there, but aside from that his interaction has been minimal.

_ “I know OF pyke.” _

_ “lmao. he was there apparently when they broke up. If only he would RESPOND to me :’( whats a girl without her informant?” _

This is crucial information. Rhaast sits up, suddenly more awake. _ “He was there??” _

_ “ye.” _

He cracks his knuckles, thinking. Eve continues to type.

_ “if u want i can give u his number but idk if he will answer u. he volunteers at the aquarium during the week tho.” _

The aquarium. Right, that guy likes fish. There is an inkling of a plan now. He can just go down tomorrow with Kayn and ask him. 

_ “That’s useful. thanks.” _

_ “np <33 if you talk to him then tell him to text me and give me the info, ok? i need 2 stay on top of things.” _

Rhaast rolls onto his stomach. _ “Whatever.” _He can almost picture Eve’s sinful smile. She would flutter her eyelashes at him no doubt, blow him a kiss and drag her fake nails down his arm. 

_ “ill send u his number.” _

He adds _ PYKE _into his contacts but doesn’t text him. Rhaast doesn’t particularly want to talk to anyone at the moment. He wonders once again if he’s doing the right thing. To be fair, that hasn’t particularly mattered to him before. He’s not exactly known as a ‘good guy’ among his social circles. But this time it feels different. This is not just a random break up. This is his brother and one of his best friends. Rhaast can’t help but feel like he’ll fuck something up. He tends to do that. Maybe he’ll fuck it up and won’t be able to fix it. He’ll break something irreparable. It’s a fear he can’t shake.

The sound of a door clicking open quietly pulls Rhaast’s away from his thoughts. He twists to look at the door and glimpses _ Aatrox. _His brother shuffles past his open doorway like a phantom. His hair is a disaster, ratty and untamed. His face is too, blotchy and red. He doesn’t glance at Rhaast, instead he disappears down the hall, probably on his way to the bathroom.

Rhaast doesn’t think he’s ever seen Aatrox so distraught. He breathes—slow—into his pillow. Five times in, five times out.

Fuck ‘doing the right thing.’ He needs to find out what happened. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *under his breath* "that took way longer than intended"

The small town feel is something that Rhaast has gradually grown used to. Coming from a busy city, everything feels much slower here. The stores are local and for the most part everybody recognizes each other. Rhaast can see, for example, Lux right outside the public library, carrying a small stack of books. Ezreal is by her side probably talking her ear off—Rhaast can’t stand him honestly. Just looking at them from a distance conjures up memories of Ezreal’s annoying voice.

“Hey.” Rhaast’s attention turns to Kayn, walking down the sidewalk to meet him at the corner. “No car?”

“I’d rather walk than ask Aatrox if I can use his.”

“So  _ scared,” _ Kayn teases with a sly grin. He’s got a dark baseball cap to shield his eyes from the sun and his braid sticks out tidily through the back.

He rolls his eyes. “Laugh it up Shie. We’re going through way too much effort for this.” 

“No gain without pain.” They continue down the sidewalk across the street. The aquarium is a short walk ahead, closer to the town’s beachfront.

“Besides,” Kayn adds. “I’ve never been to the aquarium.”

_ How?  _ Rhaast would ask, but he knows that the relationship between Kayn and his father is different. “I have,” he says instead. Sour. Too many times in fact. Azir has the joint membership to all the nearby museums, aquariums, zoos, and planetariums. Though he’s only lived here a few years, Rhaast has visited every exhibit to the point of extreme boredom. 

“Yeah I  _ know  _ you have.” Kayn turns around in front of him to stick his tongue out. “You cry about how dumb art is everytime you have to go to a new opening.”

“Art  _ is  _ dumb,” Rhaast scowls. “I hate the renaissance.” 

“You hate a lot of things.”

They cross another street and there by the beach is the aquarium. A white dolphin fountain welcomes them down the circle drive to the front doors. There are almost no cars in the parking lot, aside from a few school busses. Probably kids in summer camp. Rhaast digs his membership card out of his wallet as they walk inside. 

“Hey.” He passes his card to the lady working at the booth. “I have a plus one.” He elbows Kayn in the ribs. The benefits of a gold star membership. 

She scans the card and notes something on her computer before she passes it back to him. “You’re all set.”

“Is—uh, is Pyke volunteering today?” Rhaast shoves his wallet back in his pocket. “We’re friends.”

The lady purses her lips in thought. “Yes?” She answers hesitantly. “Probably. I don’t see him much. He doesn’t help out with admissions.”

“Cool, thanks.” Rhaast leads Kayn through the turnstile into the winding hall. Tanks line the walls, crammed with colorful corals and fish. He practically has to drag his boyfriend away from the glass.

“Shie—let’s go.” He tugs him along, exasperated.

_ “Fine,”  _ Kayn sighs dramatically. “You have to take me here some other day.”

They pass into the freshwater wing. A fake waterfall gurgles loudly and a group of children stand enamored by the massive sturgeon swimming on the other side of the glass. 

“This is a lot of effort,” Kayn speaks up. “Just for the details.”

Rhaast shrugs. “We’ve gone this far.” 

The freshwater wing follows a winding path into the rainforest wing. Kayn’s lured in by a tank of piranhas and Rhaast has to pull him away again.

“Come on,” he grumbles. “You’ll get a kick out of the shark tunnel.”

Around the corner by the saltwater section, they find their target. Pyke. Hunched by the wall with a stack of posters and a roll of tape. Rhaast squares his shoulders as they approach. There’s something strange about Pyke. He can’t quite put his finger on it. A little fishy.

“Yo,” he starts awkwardly. The other boy turns to look at them, dark eyes blank. He doesn’t say anything.

_ Really quiet.  _ Rhaast thinks. Too somber.

Kayn takes a step forward, straight to the point. “We heard from Eve that you saw what happened with Aatrox and Draven.” 

“She wants you to text her by the way,” Rhaast adds.

Pyke’s brow furrows. “Can’t. Phone’s broken.” He shifts from one foot to the other, somehow becoming more hunched over in the process.

“Oh.” That would explain it. Rhaast shares a look with Kayn. The silence is stifling. Nearly unbearable. His eyebrow twitches. He’s so  _ bad  _ at this shit it’s annoying. He just wants to get the info and be done with it.

“Well can you tell us what happened between Aatrox and Draven?” 

Pyke considers his request for a long moment. Rhaast can’t help but think he is trying to piss him off. It feels like that sometimes. Everyone at school knows how—volatile—Rhaast is. Some people get a kick out of pulling his leg. Others know better and stay away. 

“No.”

He frowns. “Why  _ not?”  _

Pyke tapes a flyer neatly against the wall. More  _ “save the whales”  _ crap. Rhaast doesn’t give a damn. 

“I never do anything for free,” he finally mutters.

Kayn crosses his arms. “Aren’t you volunteering here?” 

“Paid in service hours.” Pyke is as impassive as the fish floating around in their tanks.

“Does  _ Eve  _ pay you to hang around her and be her spy?” Rhaast snaps, already too annoyed for this shit. He doesn’t even like fish. Fish are  _ boring.  _ Boring like Pyke.

“She pays me in friendship.”

Rhaast throws his hands into the air. Shieda sighs behind him as he takes a quick jog into the saltwater section. When he loops back to the two of them they’re not talking. Pyke is still the same, terrible posture and a stack of posters. Shieda is looking idly at a tank of sea horses.

“Okay,” he grinds out through gritted teeth. “Tell us what the hell you want then.”

Pyke rubs his shoulder, thinking. “Twenty bucks,” he says carefully, as if testing the waters.

“Fuck _ off.”  _

The faintest smile ghosts across Pyke’s face at his reaction. “I lost my bandanna. Get it.”

A second of silence passes over them. Rhaast runs his tongue over his teeth. 

“How did you lose them?” He finally snaps when no other information is offered.

Pyke squints at him. “I bet against Toby.” He’s actually disgruntled now. Maybe even embarrassed, Rhaast can’t tell. 

“Toby? Fate?” Kayn wanders closer. “The weirdo with the cards?”

“He cheats.” Pyke sulks. “Swindled me at Kat’s party.”

Rhaast takes a deep breath. His interaction with Toby is minimal. A scrawny sophomore. Junior this year. Constantly thumbing through a deck of playing cards. It shouldn’t be  _ that  _ hard right? Rhaast is intimidating. Kayn is too.

“So if we get your—bandanna, you’ll tell us what we want?”

A nod. How is Evelynn friends with this guy? In what world do their personalities  _ ever  _ align? His fingers ache. 

“Fuck it,” he growls.  _ “Fine.  _ Give me his number.”

Pyke carefully rips off a piece of tape. “No phone.” 

Kayn laughs, exasperated. “You’re kidding me.”

The other boy bares his teeth in the weirdest version of a smile that Rhaast has ever seen. “Everyone’s going to Sarah’s birthday party. Didn’t get an invite?” 

“Course we got an invite,” Shieda snaps immediately, as if offended at the mere notion. “We’ll get your shit. Easy.” Rhaast can read his irritation in the stiffness of his shoulders.

Pyke is still as a statue. Rhaast wonders how his back can even withstand that much perpetual slouching. 

“Fine.” He pulls at the front of his wrinkly blue aquarium shirt. “Come back when you’re done.” 

_ “Fine,”  _ Kayn spits right back, grabbing Rhaast’s hand. He yanks him away from Pyke towards the exit. Rhaast lets him because he knows how Shieda is when he’s riled up. He becomes a snake, watching for the next sign of movement to strike. And if someone doesn’t calm him down he remains like that for hours. 

“I  _ hate  _ him,” Kayn says vehemently once they’re around the bend and out of earshot. 

Rhaast glances at the tanks around them. He leads his boyfriend through the wide halls to the start of the shark tunnel. “Yeah,” he agrees. “It’s dumb.” 

The light filters turquoise through the glass tunnel. Kayn stares up at the schools of fish and goes quiet. Rhaast can practically see his venomous mood fading into something more melancholy. He’d ask  _ “What’s on your mind?”  _ But even now he’s bad at being intimate like that. Intimate in the way that he  _ knows  _ when something’s bothering Kayn but can’t always ask what the problem is. He’s improved, but sometimes the words are trapped in his throat. Held hostage by insecurity. 

“Shie, I didn’t get invited to Sarah’s party,” he says instead. 

“I didn’t either,” Kayn mutters sullenly, pride clearly wounded. He takes off his cap and combs a few fingers through his hair. “We never get invited to anything.”

“I wonder why.”

A sharp smile cracks across his face. “Yeah I wonder.” 

Rhaast lets the silence wash over them, more comfortable this time. Blue tints Kayn’s face. “This better be worth it.”

“At this point—we’re in too deep to give up.” All it takes is one jab at Kayn’s pride to make him fully commit. Maybe Pyke is smarter than he seems. Maybe that’s why he hangs out with Evelynn. Shieda rests his hand flat against the glass. He wanders farther into the tunnel and Rhaast follows. Sometimes it feels like he’s always chasing after Shieda. He is enigmatic and proud and knows that he turns heads. Rhaast is just angry but at least he doesn’t have braces anymore.

***

In the corner of the local coffee shop, over one iced tea (for Rhaast) and one hibiscus lemonade (for Kayn) they try and figure out what to do. 

“If we got Toby’s number we could easily get Pyke’s shit.” Rhaast thumbs through his contacts. The list is not long, he doesn’t talk to many people apart from his family and his boyfriend. Most people at school don’t like talking to him anyway.

“But I want to go to the party,” Kayn grumbles. 

He sets his tea down, ice sloshing noisily. “Why?”

Kayn shrugs. “Why  _ not?  _ We never go to parties.”

“We’re never  _ invited.” _

“Who  _ cares,”  _ Kayn’s eyes spark with spite. “You know Sarah’s stupidly popular. We could just show up. She probably won’t even notice. And if she did? Could just say that Jinx said we could come. I refuse to be a loser that never goes out.” He takes an angry sip of his lemonade. “People don’t talk to us much because they’re scared of us. Especially after what happened with Jarvan at finals.”

Rhaast smiles at the memory of Jarvan’s swollen black eye. What a good time.

“Fine,” he agrees easily. He’s not opposed to being unwelcome. It’s nothing new. “When’s the party?” 

Kayn stretches out his legs till his feet rest on the coffee table between them. “Find out from Eve?”

All roads seem to lead back to Evelynn. Whenever you least expect it she shows up, as an informant or a helpful rumor mill or worse. Rhaast wonders, not for the first time, what the rumors are about him and Kayn. 

He secretly wants to know but no matter the result, he will be angry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like writing pyke.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for any and all comments/kudos, etc. i read and try to reply to every comment. :^)
> 
> tumblr is @no-shxme feel free to drop into my ask box with questions/comments/ideas, etc! :}


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